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Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
|first = January 26, 1996 |last = March 22, 1996 |runtime = 27 minutes (1st segment) 28 minutes (2nd segment) |episodes = 2 |episode_list = #Episodes }} is a two-episode 1996 Japanese anime OVA series based on the video game franchise by Sega. Produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Kazutaka Ikegami, the OVAs were released from January 26, to March 22, 1996. The anime features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Eggman (Dr. Robotnik in the English release), Metal Sonic and a few supporting characters created exclusively for the OVA. Setting Unlike other ''Sonic the Hedgehog media, the setting of the series is the world of Planet Freedom, which is split into two distinct realms: the Land of the Sky and the Land of Darkness. The Land of the Sky consists of an unknown number of continents that drift high in the stratosphere of the planet, all of them connected to a massive ice formation which also serves to anchor them to the planet's surface below. According to Knuckles, if this ice network was destroyed, Planet Freedom's rotation would hurl the Land of the Sky into outer space, undoubtedly killing everyone on it. The Land of Darkness is the actual surface of Planet Freedom, a post-apocalyptic wilderness with Robotnik as its sole living inhabitant. The Land of Darkness can only be accessed in one of two ways: by a whirlwind-like "portal" in the Land of the Sky, or via a warp zone, an extradimensional link between two points on Planet Freedom. Most of its terrain is untamed and mountainous, but a crumbling city serves as the location of Robotnik's empire. The city and terrain strongly imply that Planet Freedom is a post apocalyptic Earth that was built upon with floating islands, with certain landmarks suggesting that the ruins are those of New York City. Cast and characters Original characters ; |セーラ|Sēra}} : ; |大統領|Daitōryō}} : ; |執事|Shitsuji}} / Old Man Owl : ; |秘書|Hisho}} : Recurring characters *Sonic the Hedgehog, *Miles "Tails" Prower, *Dr. Eggman/Robotnik, *Knuckles the Echidna, *Hyper "Metal" Sonic, Episodes Production and release The OVA series was produced by Studio Pierrot, Sega Enterprises and General Entertainment and directed and storyboarded by Kazunori Ikegami, with Mayori Sekijima and Masashi Kubota handling the story structure and script, Tsuneo Ninomiya designing the characters and Mitsuhiro Tada composing the music. It was originally distributed by Taki Corporation in Japan on a rental-only basis between January 26 and March 22, 1996 before being released for retail sale on May 31 of that same year. The series was licensed by ADV Films and first released in North America between March 29, 1996 and June 11, 1996 in two VHS volumes, each containing a single episode with English subtitles. The English-dubbed version was later released as a single direct-to-video film as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie on September 7, 1999, on VHS and DVD. It was later re-released on DVD on January 13, 2004. Due to ADV Films being dissolved and spun off into Section23 Films, one of its clients being Sentai Filmworks, both releases are now out of print. Censorship rumors The Following scenes are commonly believed to have been edited or removed from the 1999 VHS release of the film: * A scene showing Sonic giving Metal Robotnik the finger. However, it is actually his Index finger in all versions. * A daydream when Robotnik proposes to Sara, where she is shown pregnant and breastfeeding one of their future children. * A scene where Robotnik is heard violently groping Sara by mistake off-screen. * A scene of Metal Sonic accidentally looking up Sara's dress when he crashes through the bottom of Robotnik's ship, resulting in Sara repeatedly kicking his head, calling him a "pervert". Sonic, being synched with Metal Sonic, experiences it as well. * During the second fight against Metal, Tails, after the Tornado is shot out of the sky, falls down a hill and starts to roll into a snowball and crashes into Sara and Knuckles. When the snowball clears, Tails is revealed to be holding on to Sara's breasts. Knuckles notices this, and thinks Tails did it on purpose. However, the Japanese VHS, US VHS, and DVD releases include all the above scenes and are regarded as fully uncut, although the US releases do not include the episodes in their separate formats. Critical reception The March 1996 issue of the DieHard Magazine gave the OVA a positive review stating that "all in all, the artwork looks amazing, plus it's an O.V.A., so the artists have been given quite an extensive budget. The animation is much cleaner than you could ever expect from a TV show, but the characters on-screen presence is what really makes Sonic so cool. It's like playing the game, but in anime form. After the U.S. Sonic cartoon has been canceled, this Anime is definitely a good choice." Henry Gilbert of GamesRadar approved of the concept of a colorful, fast-paced anime adaptation of Sonic, noting the fights between Sonic and his evil counterpart, Metal Sonic, as "cool." This is unfortunately accompanied by "scenes of slapstick humor, anime cliches, and childish voice acting" as well as the "perpetually annoying" Sara. Chris Shepard of Anime News Network praised the OVA for its non-traditional action and said it was "good for the Sonic fans". He called the English dub poor, and said the story "strayed from the video games a little too much" and it was "very basic". References External links *Official Pierrot Minisite 1 *Official Pierrot Minisite 2 *Official Bandai Channel Minisite * ] Category:1996 anime OVAs Category:Anime film and television articles using incorrect naming style Category:ADV Films Category:OVAs based on video games Category:Pierrot (company) Category:Sonic the Hedgehog Category:Works based on Sega video games